Levi E. Young – Gospel Study

Levi E. Young

First Council of the Seventy (October 6, 1909 – December 13, 1963)

General Conference Addresses

April 1960 General Conference
- A Look at History
  - “May we all come to the faith that has been this morning told us by the speakers and will be told us by the speakers today and Wednesday. Let us grow because in that growth is our salvation, our joy of living, and we certainly find what life means.”
October 1959 General Conference
- Advice to Teachers
  - “To know Christ is life eternal. To become like Christ is happiness everlasting. We know the steps that Jesus trod: obedience, devotion, purity, truthfulness, kindness, resistance of temptation, self-sacrifice.”
April 1959 General Conference
- The Mightiest Work of All
  - “The supreme test of religion is revelation. No religion can be persuasive unless it relies on the principle of revelation. The living Church of Jesus Christ must be revelatory. One readily sees that the very lifeblood of the Church is the principle and potency of redemption. Christianity in its pure sense is the religion of redeemed personality. While all true men reveal God, the complete carrier of revelation can be no other than a chosen personality.”
October 1958 General Conference
- Seek Ye Wisdom
  - “Men are not born with wisdom, they acquire it by habitual self-control, by looking not at the popular impulse of the day, not by conforming, not by mass participation, but at those principles that endure and are eternal.”
April 1958 General Conference
- Let There Be Light
  - “There have been holy men, prophets of God, throughout the ages. They have felt the divine, creative presence of God. They believed in Providence, and felt there was a power around and beyond them which gave them a concept of their ever-loving Father. Those holy men knew their Creator, listened to him, spoke to him, loved him. Moses communed with him on Mount Sinai and received from him the commandments which have molded the true concept of government throughout the civilized world. History knows no more magnificent men than the prophets of Israel. They were the idealists of the ancient world. They grappled with the same problems which we have today: war, hate of one nation for another, hunger, wrong, sin, and dishonor. They were the servants of God who gave the world light and guidance which have lasted to this day.”
April 1957 General Conference
- A Sorrowing People
  - “The Jewish people have had their own music since the days of Abraham when they used to sing and dance in their sacred meetings. And to think of the famous Jewish actors on the American stage who gave renown to the old Salt Lake Theatre. It was Charles Frohman who once declared that the Mormon theatre in Salt Lake City seemed to have a spirit of light that made the actors play at their very best.”
October 1956 General Conference
- Teach…Words of Wisdom
  - “We must in words and demeanor show always the dignity and authority of man, and talk of the noble rank he holds among the works of God. We must act in the worthy power of pure thought and let our ideals prevail. Let us try more diligently to become cultivated men and women.”
April 1956 General Conference
- The Standard Works
  - “The admonition of the Prophet grew in the hearts of the seventies who knew that they must become the missionaries of the Church. It was not long before a library was established which developed into one of the largest collections of history and literature in the early history of America. Books were brought from all over the world, and the collection of the great works of mankind stirred the Seventies to a desire to develop the art of reading.”
October 1955 General Conference
- May the Age of Peace Come to the Earth
  - “The gospel of Jesus Christ will yet appeal to millions; yes it will be seen and known in all the world. The future is lighted for us with the radiant colors of hope. Strife and sorrow will disappear. Peace and love will reign supreme sometime. The lesson of prophets, the dream of poets and musicians is confirmed in the light of modern knowledge, and as we gird ourselves for the work of life, my brethren and sisters, today and tomorrow, we may look forward to the time when in the truest sense the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Christ.”
April 1955 General Conference
- The Gospel of Good Works
  - “Our young people must be educated to think clearly and deeply, and students of schools and universities should be taught that the famous authors and philosophers of the world have produced writings which glorify God and the divinity of man.”
  - “We ask no pre-eminence; we want no pre-eminence; but where God has placed us, there we will stand; and that is, to be one with our brethren, and our brethren are those that keep the commandments of God, and do the will of our Father who is in heaven; and by them we will stand, and with them we will dwell in time and in eternity.”
October 1954 General Conference
- Seek Ye Knowledge
  - “It is a beautiful concept, for good books on history and fine literary writings give us the great discoverers and interpreters of life. They take us into an intellectual world and lend themselves to our uses and give themselves joyfully to our companionship. Nothing is more gratifying and inspiring in our intellectual lives than the lessons given by good books, and by good books we mean the best of the world’s literature. As we study the history of the early-day missionaries of the Church, we find them men of books.”
April 1954 General Conference
- Letter to German Students
  - “The youthful prophet was Joseph Smith, who knew that what the world needed first, and to the end, was God. Not God in the heavens alone and in the past, but God here, and ready by the man “whom he hath ordained” to repeat and enlarge the work given to the world eighteen hundred years before. Joseph Smith had that divine discontent, which gave him the certainty that whoever opens his heart to the Savior of mankind receives life, and light, and strength.”
October 1953 General Conference
- The Divine Call of the Seventies
  - “I wonder sometimes if in reading our sacred books we enter into the thoughts of the prophets of God, and into their hearts. Have we as religious and moral men sought to attain the perfect life by contemplation and work? So much might be said about our meetings in the temples. We all felt the goodness and beauty of human life. We felt as we have never felt before the hunger and labor, love and death, faith and work which operated to produce these sacred buildings.”
  - “We should find the good in people. We should judge all people not by their mistakes but by the abundance of their powers.”
April 1953 General Conference
- He Is Risen: And He Will Come Again
  - “The Spirit of the Lord has been in the hearts of the people who are assembled in this holy house. The lessons of the meaning of life which we will take home will long remain with us. Our minds may be open to the truths of the gospel. We cannot listen to the brethren who speak without being impressed with a new sense of power and a new source of comfort, because we have come to know God through the life of the Master: the Savior of the world. What could be more divine than to turn our thoughts to Jesus Christ our Savior at Easter time?”
  - “Today as we look forward to the time ahead, our vision will be clear if we have prayed and worked to have a testimony of the word of God among his children. We know of the truth that God lives and that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, will come again.”
October 1952 General Conference
- Seek Ye Diligently
  - “The seventies became readers of the finest literature of the world, beginning with the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the two other Church works. The people were poor in purse, but they were concerned with certain influences which were given in the writings of great authors. Sublime was their reverence for knowledge which is akin to the love of truth. They knew that a great work of any sort could only be achieved by the power of some ideal. And it is high ideals in the conduct of life that survive.”
April 1952 General Conference
- The Glory of Teaching
  - “It has been said in many different ways that “In our children lies the future of our world.” If we believe this, and we do, then the education of our children deserves our foremost careful attention. Every father and mother every mature person in our land should be profoundly interested in the education of our youth. Our honored President, David O. McKay, has during the last year given to us and our nation more than one great talk on the aims and ideals and the far-reaching importance of education. He has told us that it flourishes on character, and without character it lacks any strength. There must be character and goodness as its chief obligation—goodness is its real power. True affection in those taught and in those who are teachers must never be wanting. In all good teaching there are things that survive, and have survived, strong and unshaken from the earliest times. The master Teacher who lived two thousand years ago said love is the foundation on which to build all growth, all progress, all faith—love of God, love of neighbor.”
  - “There are only a very few youthful years in every human life when the mind is fresh and plastic, and the memory able to retain. These years should be used to teach the best and most beautiful things man can know—power over language, a mastery of pure science, exposure to great literature and art, a basic knowledge of history, philosophy, and religion. No matter what a young man or woman does to earn his living, his education will have been worthless unless he has learned to know and to use the first-rate in whatever line he pursues—and also learned to love it.”
October 1951 General Conference
- The Search for Truth
  - “To me, one of the great defects of our day is the lack of wisdom. If there were wisdom enough in the world to direct the course of human conduct, we need not have wars. If we were wise enough we would search for truth in solving all of our problems. We would try to discover the causes of these problems, and we would seek more wisdom in their solution. We would search for the truth without prejudice, but with an understanding mind and heart until through wisdom we could agree among men on important solutions for permanent peace and the betterment of mankind. Such wisdom demands that we have a deep faith in God, active minds, with insight and understanding of the realities of life, and the teachings of the Redeemer.”
  - “We cannot find truth without hard work, patient and sincere work in the form of study, over a long period of time.”
April 1951 General Conference
- Seven “The Formula of Heaven”
  - “We are all greatly concerned with the present-day social and religious conditions of the world. For all the wrongs that are in the world today, for all the false teachings and terrible wars that we have experienced, all the tragedies and sufferings of humanity caused by sin and the loss of faith in God, our children will have to pay in the future.”
  - “History is a voice forever sounding across the centuries the laws of right and wrong. Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity. For every false word or unrighteous deed, for cruelty and oppression, for lust or vanity, the price has to be paid at last: not always by the chief offenders, but paid by someone. Justice and falsehood may be long-lived, but doomsday comes at last to them, in revolutions and other terrible ways.”
October 1950 General Conference
- A People of Culture
  - “Testimony with us is a very divine thing. It is a sacred trust and can come only to one who has opened his heart and mind to hallowed living with earnest prayer and deep faith in God and Jesus Christ. It is the most divine gift of all, and this testimony lies deep in the heart of every member of the Church.”
  - “The power of the human mind had its growth in the wilderness; much more must the conception, the love of beauty be an image of God’s daily work.”
April 1950 General Conference
- A Land of Thine Inheritance
  - “In the day when the Prophet Joseph Smith lived, the divisions of Christendom were seen. His going into the woods to pray was a divine act, for through the deep faith of the boy, God spoke to him. We all know the story. God reestablished his Church, the priesthood of God was restored by John the Baptist, and Peter, James, and John. They came again to earth as resurrected beings. Thus Joseph Smith came to understand the supreme test of religion—revelation. Religion as a purely human product, valuable at it is to human life and progress, has not the inner vigor to retain a place of commanding power. Religion requires revelation. “The completest carrier of revelation can be no other, or less, than a chosen personality.” This was the Christian conception in the beginning. So we have the restored gospel today. The Church has its priesthood with its Apostles, seventies, and all the other offices in the Holy Priesthood of God. Our foundation is the divine truth:”
October 1949 General Conference
- The Supreme Test of Religion
  - “The Latter-day Saints believe and know honestly that Adam came to earth sent of God from heaven. He held the priesthood of God and became the first teacher of the gospel to his descendants. The divine ideals as taught by the Father of us all were held sacred, and from that time to the days of the Messiah upon the earth, the truths of God were planted in the hearts of his children. Maurice Maeterlinck in his book, The Great Secret, says that what we read in the oldest archives of wisdom gives us only a faint idea of the sublime doctrines of the ancient teachers. The older the texts, the more pure, the more awe-inspiring are the doctrines they reveal. They may be merely an echo of sublimer doctrines. We come down to the age of the prophets.”
  - “Think of what your message can become as you go forth to teach. But it is going to require of you some sort of planning toward an end. Your minds must become more sensitive to the revealed truths of God as never before. Your faith in your work must deepen from day to day.”
April 1949 General Conference
- The Word of God Must Go Forth
  - “God’s first demands of his servants are pure hearts, upright lives, truthfulness, mercy, and honesty. Good manners were regarded as matters of religion and morality. Boasting, ostentation, conceit, were of old considered the patent evidence of vulgarity. These are condemned by the scriptures.”
October 1948 General Conference
- Joseph Smith
  - “The supreme test of religion is revelation. No religion can be persuasive and convincing that does not rely upon and embody an authentic principle of revelation. Religion as a purely human product, valuable as it might be to human progress, has not the inner vigor to maintain a place of commanding power. Religion requites revelation. All truth is revealed not less so because it is discovered.”
  - “The gospel does more than teach duty. It provides the motive and desire to do it, and it gives the moral strength.”
April 1948 General Conference
- Be Ye Therefore Perfect
  - “Temptations beset every one of us in every walk of life. By temptations I mean failures to see aright.”
  - “The spectacle offered by humanity today is a deeply sad one. The gestures of faith, constant attendance at Church, outward piety, signify nothing if man does not conform his acts and his life to the ideals of the teachings of Christ. Men must be made to understand that the important thing is to develop what is within them, to purify themselves, to better themselves, to come closer to the perfect ideal which Jesus taught. He has shown us the way. The path is straight before us. We must love God; we must love our neighbor; we must do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We must pray that the kingdom of God may come to the earth as it is in heaven. The sincere desire of men to progress morally and spiritually leads to the erection of an inside temple, without which the outward manifestation of faith becomes useless.”
  - “It is from distrust that the world is suffering. We must be more determined than ever before to fulfil the great task expected of us; to make ourselves better; to make others better; to make this a better world to live in and to bring mankind nearer to God—to have peace in our hearts and love for all men.”
  - “If the moral law and true religion dominate the world today, mankind will be on the right road to the winning of peace and happiness for humanity.”
October 1947 General Conference
- Sermon on the Mount an Ordination Sermon
  - “We know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is comprehensive and all-embracing, including all the values of religion as they reveal themselves in human experience. It is purifying and refining, correcting the excesses and rejecting the abuses, which have corrupted the nature and obstructed the pathway of religion throughout its history. The gospel of Jesus Christ is distinctively and definitely revelatory, fulfilling the largest meaning and possibility of revelation. It makes due place for all the human interests that constitute the spiritual life of man. It is quite true that the Christian world has lost the path. And the reason for this is that it has not the inner vigor to command a place of commanding power. The religion of Jesus Christ requires revelation—revelation to chosen prophets, who teach the principles of the redemption of mankind. Within the Christian doctrine is the principle and potency of redemption.”
April 1947 General Conference
- A Look Into the Past and Future
  - “This is a day of grace; it is grace unto us because it is divine knowledge that we have. You brethren who hold the priesthood, you seventies, who are responsible for giving to the world the message of Christ our Lord, must go forth as never before with your souls ringing with testimony. All of us bearing this Holy Priesthood must awaken to this great cause of truth. Live righteously because it is right, and do the things that we have been admonished to do, in this conference of the Lord. We must remember, brother seventies, that as Jesus of Nazareth, after his crucifixion, sent his disciples into the world to preach the gospel, so he is sending his disciples today into the world, and they will be heard.”
  - “It is wise and good for us to remember that the Sermon on the Mount undoubtedly was an ordination message.”
October 1946 General Conference
- Our Duty
  - “God makes one man the channel of communication to other men. This channel is never closed.”
  - “Three things have the servants of God emphasized in this day: the immortal appeal to fortitude and faith; the returning to God through repentance; and holy baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”
April 1946 General Conference
- Joseph Smith
  - “When the knowledge of the Living God is lost, Christianity becomes merely a name. Joseph Smith was thrown back upon one thing and that was to ask. A spiritual world dawned within the content of his soul. From his youth up, he sought for an understanding of the will of God and the way to attain the kingdom of God. It meant to possess the priesthood, and to possess this light and power meant to live the life true to his God. Man never reaches after the divine unless the divine works and is acknowledged in his own life.”
October 1945 General Conference
- Our Best Today—Better Tomorrow
  - “My brethren of the quorums of the seventy, you are all endowed with this same priesthood and power which gives you a distinct hope and message. You have an exalted purpose—to teach the gospel to all the world today. You have the good news of salvation, of freedom, to show the way of eternal life. You are a body of men to help build a regenerated body of religious ideals and life. From this day, you are to stand for a moral awakening as never before, a spiritual upsurge, a deeper appreciation of the spiritual needs of humanity. People will receive the message if it is presented and taught as it should be. The demands are high; the spiritual discipline must be sincere; the sacrifice of material things great. The qualities which made Jesus a master teacher were: He was divinely inspired, profound in his simplicity, understanding, and sympathy.”
  - “There never was a time when it was more needful for us to recur to the reason of the power of Jesus Christ in the world than now; never a time when we were more in danger of throwing away true permanence for barren change; never a time when we were more in danger of sacrificing truth for wrong. Truly do we know that the man who holds the priesthood of God has a principle higher than any that has gone before; that man whose policy, whose statesmanship, whose legislation, whose faith involves the highest reach possible of the human understanding in the spiritual direction—that men will endure and will help save the world.”
April 1945 General Conference
- Joseph Smith
  - “He learned that day that the divisions of Christendom are its most conspicuous reproach and the chief cause of its inefficiency. They present a moral affront to the enterprise inaugurated by Jesus Christ, and constitute the outstanding limitation of its progress. Christianity is weakened by its division in facing the problems of today, among which are class hatreds, race antagonisms, blindness to social justice, the lure of vicious literature, crime-instigating narcotics, and the spread of military spirit in the world.”
  - “The supreme test of religion is revelation. No religion can be persuasive unless it relies on the principle of revelation. The living Church of Jesus Christ must be revelatory. One readily sees that the very lifeblood of the Church is the principle and potency of redemption. Christianity in its pure sense is the religion of redeemed personality. While all true men reveal God, the completest carrier of revelation can be no other than a chosen personality.”
  - “His message was for the fireside, for we are taught that the gospel must be in the home; it is “pure religion breathing household laws.” The father holds the priesthood of God; the mother is heir to the same influence of the priesthood. It brings the truest conception of home life, which lies at the root of civilization. Here are the children born and reared. Here are the teachings of faith expressed in prayer. Every child is taught faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God. Reverence for God is the basis of morality.”
  - “If the priesthood is a living reality in our lives, all thought and action will be regulated by our relation to God.”
October 1944 General Conference
- The Test of Christianity
  - “We have too often failed to give ourselves to the word of the Lord. We have run after wealth, praise, and honor, and thought that Christ may be found by seeking eminence and power. This is not so. Many of us will have to learn that it is not the outward and physical, but by the inward and physical that men become true men.”
April 1944 General Conference
- Truth, Beauty, Goodness
  - “I speak of these things because they represent so much in our history. They are the creations of great men—great souls. Only a deeply religious people could create a building like this tabernacle; only a good people could construct a building like yonder temple.”
  - “God is behind all truth, beauty, and goodness, and there is nothing so noble for the soul, so uplifting as to be able to find beauty in all truth.”
October 1943 General Conference
- On Common Ground
  - “Now, my brother missionaries before we can teach, we must get on common ground, with that love that has just been spoken about, with that genuineness of understanding of the human heart.”
October 1942 General Conference
- Sowers and Reapers
  - “You stake mission presidents should call your brethren around you and teach the gospel. Remember when you approach people, you will receive from them the same thought that you give them. If hate, you will receive hate; if love, it will be love. God will be the judge of institutions and people.”
April 1942 General Conference
- The Light of Truth
  - “God has again spoken from heaven, and the Priesthood of God has again been restored to the earth. Prophets, seers, and revelators walk the earth. It is our firm conviction that the work of the Lord will grow in the hearts of men. We have faith in people, faith in the coming of God’s kingdom upon the earth. Right does make might, and right will prevail some day in all the world.”
October 1941 General Conference
- Report from New England
  - “It is in God’s love that we will be able to love mankind and in loving mankind we will love God, and it is with this spirit, my brethren and sisters, that the Elders, the missionaries, your sons and your daughters are going forth in the New England Mission ; never with hate, never with unkindness, never with anything false, but with Truth, with kindness, with hope, and with a knowledge in their hearts that they are the servants of the living God. This is what I wanted to say to you as your servant and fellow-laborer and brother, and as a co-laborer with our fine boys and girls in New England.”
April 1941 General Conference
- Report from New England
  - “There are two documents that our missionaries are coming to know, documents that the world will have to reckon with. They are Joseph Smith’s Own Story and the Articles of Faith. Had the Prophet Joseph Smith never issued anything else but his own story and the Articles of Faith, his work would in time have revolutionized religious thought. They refute the tragic mistake of the Calvin and Loyola documents, for they announce to the world the large fundamentals on which the restored Gospel is based. In the Prophet’s writings you never find any pretense or bombast, but everything he writes is simple and direct. The reader is always impressed with his truthfulness and honesty. We are using these two documents with fine success in our mission.”
October 1940 General Conference
- Report from Boston
  - “One of the great wrongs going on in America today is the idea held by millions of people that they have the right to enjoy the things of life which they have never earned. It is a form of dishonesty that is corrupting the youth of to-day, it has already corrupted millions. It has produced an aversion to hard work. Idleness and the love of pleasure have taken away many of our American ideals given to us by the fathers of this nation. The hate of man for man has grown in this country as it has grown in the lands across the seas. These forces have torn down religious ideals, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord finds little lodgment in the hearts of men. Our civilization is suffering from a breakdown in character because our teachings have not had a sufficient effect on the actions and lives of individuals.”
April 1940 General Conference
- Faith and Education
  - “Faith is one of the principal characteristics of a soul, seeking the higher things of life. It is that something which tells us that God lives.”
  - “We live on sensation rather than on divine truth. Civilization has strewn the paths of progress with the spoils of science and the fruits of invention. Distance has been conquered, bodily diseases are within our power to cure, humanity is crowned with the diadem of intellectual progress and material success, but parallel with all this growth, our hearts are swollen with pride, and we are not living buoyantly and serenely.”
  - “The laws of the spiritual world and the laws of the material world are God’s laws and are eternal. Spiritual laws are suffering at the hands of men. This is why darkness prevails and the dawn of the new day is delayed.”
  - “Religion should be the most constructive part of our culture, for that culture wherein religious idealism prevails, is a culture that loves beauty, truth, and goodness.”
April 1939 General Conference
- The Tabernacle
  - “Every time we come here, we dedicate this building by our spirit of worship and adoration.”
  - “So may we also speak of our meeting houses in every stake of Zion. They are small tabernacles, where the Saints go up to hear the word of God, and to partake of the holy sacrament. We can make of our sacrament meeting something more sacred and divine. Every Sabbath evening we should go to these holy houses, with the spirit of worship. There should be no whispering, no noise, no feeling of hate or envy in the soul of any one who sits within the sacred presence of the Lord.”
April 1938 General Conference
- War and Peace
  - “What is needed then is for us to inflame the civic temper, as in the past nations have inflamed the military temper. Should a stranger see the Priesthood assembled tonight, he would be convinced that this organized body of men is given to the ideal of the most peaceful of activities, namely, service for God.”
  - “War is an evil thing, and the only way to fight evil is to adopt some divine plan of campaign, given to us in the religion of Jesus Christ our Lord. Overcome evil with good. This is the secret of the battle against wrong. Evil is potent because it has control of the hearts of men.”
October 1937 General Conference
- Civilization
  - “It is hard for the modern world to grasp this divine truth today, for our civilization is in the throes of all kinds of commotion. It creaks and groans in labor disputes; the home and the sacredness of family life are being destroyed; and again are the nations crashing in world war. The Church of the living God does not stand for these things. It is man that causes them. We are pleading for the preservation of our civilization. If the world could only be taught to turn to the Savior, civilization would take care of itself.”
  - “Our homes must become again centers of the way of divine life. Children should pray ; parents should pray. Children should be brought not so much by word as by divine thought to the altar of God every day, and there find more illuminating purposes. Our churches should be what all sacred houses should be—houses of prayer—where men and women should gather and in deep humility and with hungry hearts lift themselves up to him whom, to truly know, is the only life that matters. David of old said that the holy temple is not for man, but for the Lord God. That God is all for whom we are seeking; to know him and to find him forever is not superstition. It is religion.”
  - “If the Lord in his holy purposes is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man—and this is his sole purpose—then it will be done as mankind turns to him in that sublime and holy faith which was the basic teaching of the Master.”
April 1937 General Conference
- Public Morality
  - “The quality of democracy in America is that it seeks to protect and preserve that sovereign right of all people to come to a knowledge of their own better selves, and to live their own natural lives. Democracy teaches us that it is not wealth that makes happiness, but the wealth of the spirit, brought about by the opportunity to work on land and in factory, and to enjoy the blessings of church and school.”
  - “To perpetuate our government, we must cherish and love it. We must preserve a correct and energetic tone of morals. After all, liberty consists more in the habits of the people, than in anything else. There are always men wicked enough to go any length in the pursuit of power, if they can find people enough to support them. Ambition of men to become dictators must be restrained by the public morality. When such men arise, they must find themselves standing alone.”
October 1936 General Conference
- A Great Calamity
  - “Magnificent have been the achievements of men; still more splendid will they be. The nations of the world have accumulated great wealth but the love of money has pushed aside their love of God. The conscience of Christian creeds has become blunt to the primary distinctions of right and wrong and the world is drifting to some ignominious end.”
  - “We must come to a new spiritual ascendency over our baser selves. To achieve peace in this world of ours, this will have to be done. We must come to religion by way of life, and a deeper desire within to live life well.”
  - “The real test of the strength of civilization is in the moral capacity of the rank and file of the citizens to give up the pleasures of the present for greater rewards in the future.”
April 1936 General Conference
- Old Fashioned Ideals
  - “The old Puritan idealism of our pioneer parents was hard and stern at times, but those men and women of early days knew that they must not waste their vital, energies on profitless adventures. They were men of self-discipline, and they taught their children to hold themselves aloof from the moral degenerations that would sap the strength of life.”
  - “The tendency to rule God out of the affairs of life is a tragic thing. Why should he not make his habitation wherever men build their homes, and do their work, and fight their battles?”
October 1935 General Conference
- The Bible and the Book of Mormon
  - “Almost contemporary with the Holy Bible is the Book of Mormon, really the Bible of the American continent. Like the Holy Bible, it was written over a period of years, and like the Bible, it was written by divinely inspired prophets, on papyrus, or on metal plates, then finally all brought together on gold plates, to be found and translated through the gift and power of God, by a prophet of these the last days.”
  - “Knowledge of God can come in no other way but by prayer and revelation.”
April 1935 General Conference
- Teaching
  - “In the early part of the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries went among the Hawaiians, and it was not long before the old pagan religions were overthrown, and the people readily embraced Christianity. Their ancient folk-lore and traditions suggest deep and fundamental beliefs of the Israelites of ages ago. One tradition tells of a young chief who was taken to the land of his fathers, but one day coming back from the clouds, he warned his people to wage war no longer, but to live in peace and to cleanse their thoughts and bodies by going into the river. Then they should know if they are clean.”
  - “America needs today a youth that is disciplined, who has self-respect and powers for productive service. The world needs a youth possessed of the highest standards of intellectual morality.”
October 1934 General Conference
- The United States
  - “We must ever remember that there are no rights that are not duties. The Declaration of Independence was not justified if it was not obligatory. So this is true with the still greater document of government, the Constitution of the United States.”
  - “We must educate the youth in an understanding of freedom and democracy; we must teach them that the perpetuity of our government depends on a deep conviction of the reality of the kingdom of God and the spiritual quality of life.”
April 1934 General Conference
- The Word of Truth
  - “It is the home that is the center of our social lives; it is the cathedral of our religious lives, where the Lord has imparted to us the knowledge of the immortality of his spiritual values: It is character that we must build; and in Jesus as in no other soul, humanity has found its ideal of character before which the noblest of the sons of men in all generations since his day have bowed their heads in reverence.”
  - “Truth and goodness can inspire in men an affection infinitely more creative and unconquerable than anything else in life.”
October 1933 General Conference
- Gathering
  - “I think that all people who accept the Gospel of our Lord are the intelligent ones of the world. It is true that we bring from Europe and other parts of the world the poor in material things, but not the poor in spiritual gifts. We have brought from Scandinavia, Germany, England, Italy, France, and other nations those who have humble faith in the Savior. It is only such who can understand the Gospel. They, like the Apostle Paul, find power in faith; a faith that produces and works itself out in a life of love. They learn like the rest of us that true faith gives all; and in return receives all.”
April 1933 General Conference
- Men Need Encouragement
  - “This is a time of much trial and sorrow. The greatest need today is that human hearts shall find comfort, and I believe you have found comfort in coming up to this holy tabernacle of God, where one hears the word of God. Men need encouragement; they need divine light and understanding.”
October 1932 General Conference
- The State of the World
  - “We have become children of fear. We are afraid to live, for we have grown sick of our failures and frailties. This America of ours has gone mad with luxury, with indulgences, and bodily comfort, with an overwhelming external hurry and a tumult of distraction. We have become an unchecked, self-exultant people. The children of God have forgotten God. This is our trouble. The passion for rebellion, for destruction is mixed up with the eager longing to make the world over. True, our churches are filled, but it is rather for social than religious purposes. I wonder how many of us feel that the priest or minister of God is given the keys of heaven with the power to bind and to loose. I sometimes even wonder how many of us—and I am speaking of all mankind—really know the love of a true and living God.”
  - “It is religion, the love of God and neighbor, which gives life a meaning; knowledge cannot do it.”
April 1932 General Conference
- The Temple Square Mission
  - “The high and low, the rich and poor come to us, but with us there are no high, low, rich or poor. All people are children of God and they come here and take away with them something of the spirit of the Mission, something of the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
  - “While it is good to know the truth, it is far greater to be a man or woman of the truth.”
October 1931 General Conference
- Reverence
  - “I feel that we do not reverence our sacred buildings enough; that in our meetings there is often too much noise and confusion. To this tabernacle and to all our tabernacles, we come to hear the word of God, for every building we erect and dedicate to God, is a building for holy worship. The old tabernacle of the ancient Jews had an altar which was sacred. From these emanated the Spirit and word of God. So from this altar goes forth the word of God to all who will listen. It is a house of prayer and every meeting house built by the Latter-day Saints is a house of prayer.”
  - “In our act of partaking of the sacrament is there the spirit of reverence and worship? And during the entire meeting, are our thoughts given in thanksgiving and praise for the blessings we have from God who loves us all? This is an important question for you and me to answer.”
  - “We should cultivate reverence for the things of God, and remember that every human being is a child of God and is, therefore, naturally a divine spirit. We should speak to our fellow men with reverent thought and expression; we should carry into the houses of the Lord a reverence which comes from the true spirit of worship.”
April 1931 General Conference
- Challenges in the World
  - “There is today an unprecedented challenge to law and authority. There is a prevailing hatred between nations; men and men. There is a growing aversion to work. There is an excessive thirst for pleasure, and a gross materialism seems to be growing; and as the materialism grows man is forgetting the spiritual life that has been taught us by Jesus the Christ, and those who have taken up his work and his cause. These ills have become common to human society, but there is a power in the world that is destined to overcome them and that is the power of God, manifested in the mind and the soul of man.”
October 1930 General Conference
- Christians
  - “What the Christian world needs today is to know Christ; and the world can only know Christ by its coming to know the” living, personal God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all things therein. He is our Heavenly Father, and in his image man is created. Jesus Christ came to redeem us, and to teach us the divine truth of eternal life.”
  - “Knowledge alone cannot solve our social and religious problems; but knowledge with faith in God can.”
April 1930 General Conference
- The Book of Mormon
  - “The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a great event in history, for it tells about the religious teachings of the forefathers of the American Indians. It is a book of holy scriptures, and it contains the word of God to his people.”
  - “These are all to be obtained by obeying the laws and commandments of God, which are fundamentally, Faith in God the eternal father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost; the principles of repentance and holy baptism by immersion by one having divine authority; and the conferring of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by one holding the Priesthood of God.”
October 1929 General Conference
- Great Principles
  - “Mormonism recognizes that in this great age of new thought and progress, the power of the Divine is in the living present. The religion of Jesus Christ our Lord gives us power to distinguish between the true and the false; the eternal and the temporal; spiritual substance and human opinion. Our great mission is to advocate an understanding between religion and the civilization of today.”
  - “The human mind is infinite in its power to progress.”
  - “We are working for the establishment of God’s kingdom upon the earth. No nobler purpose could be in the hearts of men; no greater motive could ever move them. With these principles, we shall be able to work out the highest principles of morality, for faith in God and his work is the true basis of morality.”
April 1929 General Conference
- Living the Gospel
  - “My life’s work has brought me into close contact with the youth; with young” men and young women in colleges and universities. They wish to talk honestly about what life has meant so far, and what it may mean. They are young, intelligent, cultured people; but many of them are taking no part in a spiritual development for themselves; nor are they helping others in this regard. They need awakening religiously. They need to Be shown the way, the truth, and the life and then be given an opportunity for intelligent expressional activity. They must be converted and filled with a spirit of influencing their friends and companions and associates. Besides, these young people write to me from all nations and tongues for help and information and spiritual guidance.”
  - “As missionaries, we proclaim religion as a way of life, rather than a set of ethical mandates. As Latter-day Saints we are not left in doubt concerning the things that really spell value and endure. Unfortunately, in the religious controversies of today, secondary issues have been exalted above primary truths. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has primary truths that must forever regulate souls unto divine guidance. We cannot very well mistake religion so long as it upbuilds and makes the Christian man. The Church of Jesus Christ upholds the witness that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the priesthood of God has been restored in this day. This cannot help being an inextinguishable light to all nations and ages.”
October 1928 General Conference
- Archaeology
  - “Man is a divine creation, and he is able to set himself free from bondage.”
  - “Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon shows God at work in the life of the human race. Its supreme revelation is of the human heart, and life touched by the Spirit of God. Its power and value is this, and it is from beginning to end a book of life. It becomes in this light, colorful, gripping, vivid, laying its hold on our imaginations and our souls. It inspires, it lifts our minds to God, and herein is its power.”
April 1928 General Conference
- The Law
  - “The Jews understood that God required righteousness as indispensable for life. The law flashed out solemn warning to the world. The sense of sin, the need of redemption, the lawlessness of human nature, when it is not under subjection to the law of God ; and these principles were all postulates of the Bible. Hebraism stood out for the moral and religious principle, Hellenism for the culture of the human; the sensitive love for the beautiful, and the joy of living.”
  - “Then on the other hand, these two articles implicitly say that all discord in life is changed into harmony by reconciling man to God. The deepest thought of Christ’s teaching and life is simple confidence in God, as seen in the world and in human life. This consciousness of the divine takes precedence over all else, and becomes the great inspiring motive, driving the life to noble ends, and assuring the spirit of man of the highest realities of life. This is one of the contributions of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, as we Latter-day Saints understand it.”
October 1927 General Conference
- Sharing the Gospel
  - “We have the right to chose between right and wrong, and the choosing of right becomes more powerful on our part, as we discern the spirit of the Gospel of Christ by our lives and our attitude towards the world and humanity. In fact, the thought of Emerson opens up the whole theme of the gospel: Free Agency, Faith in God, the principles of the gospel by which we come to know the life that God would have us live. This was the way I interpreted Emerson’s words, and the people listened.”
  - “Any faith that lasts will teach righteousness toward man as a part of duty toward God.”
  - “We are very anxious that the spirit of reverence be increased in our hearts, for these buildings and grounds so that the tourists may know rather from a spiritual influence than by words, that we have sincere faith in Almighty God. We show the visitors this great Tabernacle and our beautiful Temple. Marvelous buildings, they are. The Latter-day Saints were never so happily inspired as when they erected these buildings.”
  - “There are three distinct things needed in the world today as forces to spiritualize humanity. First, a revival and adherence to the Ten CommatTdments given to Moses on Mount Sinai; the second is a renewal of faith in God the eternal father, and his son Jesus Christ; and the third a divine knowledge that in this day and age of the world the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been restored by revelation.”
April 1927 General Conference
- Rise and Progress
  - “The idea that good can be disassociated from the idea of God is wrong. The world since the war needs a finer system, not only of religion, but of effort for a larger righteousness. This will be the greatest preventive of war. Nations must have a deeper consciousness of the personal relationship between God and the individual, and a broader philosophy of history which attempts to unfold the divine purpose in the rise and progress of nations. What the world needs, therefore, is character, the kind of character that you pioneer mothers taught your sons and your daughters ; and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ which brings out the idea of a belief in God, a God who is righteous and loving—a person.”
  - “Eternal progression and the immortality of the soul give, us the key to the higher life beyond. So through the work of this prophet a new day has dawned with a new sky over our heads. For in religion as in other things men are not owned any more but are guided. This religion of Christ, our Lord, claims today that men of truth are living more than ever in all history.”
October 1926 General Conference
- Victory
  - “They came to work out their destiny. Religious freedom was one of their motives, and they possessed a very fine and lofty courage, and are to be reverently admired by all the people of this state. They put above all things the possessions of the mind and the heart. When they achieved their purpose, through much tribulation and suffering, they opened their doors to the honest in heart, and told them to enter. In the law of progress, these pioneers stand forth as exemplars of certain great principles, which never can grow old. They set character first; and reverenced intellectual and religious achievement.”
  - “What a divine duty the gospel of Christ imposes upon you and me; the duty to develop our spirits and intellects to the highest degree and to their infinite possibilities. Then there is the higher righteousness and the commandment of love.”
  - “There cannot be true victory in life until every activity of man—economic, political, social, ethical, and intellectual—be influenced by the divine purpose of Christ, our Lord. That is victory.”
April 1926 General Conference
- Patriotism
  - “We Latter-day Saints believe in the sacredness of the Mayflower compact, and we hold very reverently in our hearts the Constitution of the United States. This document is the greatest expression of government that has come forth in all history, and its principles, if lived up to, will change the political and civic life of the world. The beautiful thing about the American government is that it is an expression of the lives of the people, and if the people live magnanimous and Christian-like lives, so will our Government become greater and greater.”
  - “There are problems today to be solved, and I consider that the greatest ills of society are: first, the unprecedented challenge of authority and disrespect for law; secondly, hatred between man and man; and thirdly, the excessive search for pleasure as the aim of life. I believe that we people should be the greatest lovers of the law of any people living, for just law expresses our ideals and concepts of life. We should dedicate our lives to the highest political and civic truths and we should grow in the abiding thought that man is made in the image of God; that the Christian virtues are the highest codes of ethics; and that immortality and the establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth are illuminated because of the restored Priesthood which we hold. With such ideals we will be able to contribute more to the solution of the problems of the world than any other people.”
October 1925 General Conference
- Truth
  - “There is something great that we must contemplate in the mission of the Master. He did teach the glory of God, he did give unto us the teaching that man is divine and that the power of the intellect and of the spirit are not limited, but are unlimited.”
  - “It is a mistake, a great mistake, today, to lose sight of the fact that man can know God.”
  - “Truth expresses itself in love and happiness and joy and peace. For this reason the Latter-day Saints should not only be thankful for vision, they should be grateful for the happiness that has come to us, for the spirit of the gospel of Christ is one of happiness and joy and thanksgiving. We should be the most encouraged people in all the world.”
April 1924 General Conference
- Search for Truth at the Source
  - “Joseph Smith thirsted for truth, but did not drink until he had reached the source.”
  - “I hope the day will come when the gospel of Jesus Christ will be taken anew to the various tribes of American Indians, and I have confidence that they will understand the true message of the Redeemer.”
October 1923 General Conference
- America and the Gospel
  - “I have often thought of that event in our history, because I believe it is a symbol of Americanism. I know it to be the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the spirit of true Americanism.”
  - “I believe that the “Mormon” people, in a sense, were the forerunners of that great ideal which today our nation stands upon. The Constitution of the United States was not a league of friendship, but it was a document that bound the states together in one great union ; and though it took many years to work this idea out, and finally a great civil war to maintain it, it was the ideal of Washington, and of Hamilton, and Chief Justice Marshall and Abraham Lincoln.”
April 1923 General Conference
- Teaching Children
  - “While we have our many teachers in the various auxiliary organizations of the Church, yet the greatest teacher a child can have are the parents.”
  - “In our homes Jesus Christ should be our ideal, and you know that he waged war against vulgarism and the materialistic manner of living. Christ swept false systems away, and gave us a mortality based on the principle that his God and our God lives. His morality was sympathy, and he had no regard whatever for the dry, lifeless systems of his day.”
October 1922 General Conference
- The Temple Block
  - “Today this Temple Block has become a gathering place for the worship of the Most High God. To me the place is very sacred. Here we have the temple, which is the symbol of eternal life, for therein many hundreds of God’s children are being directed to eternal truth- It took many1 years to build the temple. In fact, it was erected by a people who were compelled to toil and learn life’s meaning by the anguish of their souls. The people who created that holy temple did so by work and faith, and they knew full well that work with faith in Christ Jesus would accomplish anything. That building is the symbol of strength ; it is the expression of the ideals of a great people who are building and working with their eyes lifted to God. It should always inspire us to great ideals.”
April 1922 General Conference
- Gospel Solutions for the World
  - “To the question as to whether or not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to solve the problems of humanity from an economic viewpoint, I answer that the religion of the Master is a pure religion, and holds that the spiritual life of man is above all things, and that the suffering of humanity can only be eliminated as humanity humbly and courageously approaches the work and problems of life with a supreme faith in God. We must come back to a fundamental truth which I sometimes fear we are forgetting, and that is the fact that we are all naturally blessed with a consciousness of what is righl and what is wrong. We must cultivate this consciousness and choosing the right as God gives us the power to see the right, fearlessly live and preserve the better moral life of our natures both individually and socially.”
  - “I have been asked what compromises “Mormonism” will make with the world ? I reply, no compromise when it comes to the fundamental principles of religion, for they are of God, and no one has a right to compromise the eternal truths of God. They belong to Him. We have no right to say we will compromise with man. So I pray that we may hold up these eternal truths. There is no compromise in God’s principles and holy laws. There can’t be, they are of God ; and we have seen the “gleam,” and we must follow the “gleam” according to the will of God for all His children.”
October 1921 General Conference
- People Are Good
  - “I am an optimist, and know full well that every child of God has more good in him than bad, but I have come to believe that mankind is suffering for the want of spiritual light, and that old standards of morality are fading away.”
  - “The spirit of man is divine. We are of God, with the same powers in embryo likened unto a God. We believe with all our might and strength that the light within us and the divinity of our own spirits will yet cause us to be truly and greatly educated children; and we base our testimony of life on the inner light, the power and light of God within us.”
  - “We are hoping that the time will come when it may be said of us that the Latter-day Saints are not only the most intellectual people in all the world, but they are the most spiritual, and they win souls unto the true and living God by the spiritual life they express in their words, actions and thoughts.”
April 1921 General Conference
- The Cultured Pioneers
  - “God never called upon cowards to do work for him, but he has given the work invariably to high types of people, high minded people, a highly spiritual people.”
  - “The power that held the people together was the religious feeling; and with this the economic interests common to all. In these social groups, the desire was to live and let live. The people were intensely practical; the physical conditions of he country made them so. They were compelled to apply their religious idealism to the immediate problems in hand.”
October 1920 General Conference
- Germany
  - “No lasting peace can come to this world until a peace is based on the love of God for all peoples.”
  - “The subject of thrift and industry; of government and learning; and the divinity of the family life as well as the sanctity of the Church of Christ, all have been spoken about with great power. These are the institutions of civilization, and we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stand for them in all their meaning to life. The great central theme of this conference, however, has been to know God and to keep his commandments. But we cannot know him without the spirit of love; for now abideth faith, hope, love—these three, but the greatest of these is love.”
April 1920 General Conference
- The Fatherhood of God
  - “It was the most natural thing in the world for God to reveal himself to a child whose mind was pure and who had not learned the theories of philosophy of that day. I look upon Joseph Smith as the greatest prophet of all history, for his was the work of the greatest age of man’s development since the fall of Adam.”
  - “May we all seek in our hearts and minds the Divine Guidance, that we may learn the path of larger service and wider usefulness. May we serve the Master by serving his children.”
October 1919 General Conference
- Missionary Work
  - “The fact that ever since the days of Abraham the Lord has called a portion of his family to bear witness of his great truths is an inspiring truth. This place in the mountains had been preserved for the people of God. It will always be a Stake of Zion. May we as Latter-day Saints, from this day on have our testimonies renewed that the Government of the United States was instituted by the power of God, and the way prepared for the coming of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
  - “There can be no solution of our industrial, social and political problems until the world shall know for a fact that Jesus is the Christ and that we are living in a new day of the world’s history.”
June 1919 General Conference
- Thoughts on Joseph F. Smith
  - “Man to him is free, but free to do right, not free to do wrong. I remember a statement that he once made concerning the meaning of liberty which I shall never forget. Said he: “Liberty is obedience to just law.” That to me is one of the most wonderful ideas concerning liberty and Americanism that I have ever heard. Obedience to law is liberty. What kind of law? Law that is founded on truth. Law that is an expression of God’s will to his people. Therefore, he was very democratic.”
October 1918 General Conference
- War and Peace
  - “It will be the conflict between intellience and ignorance, between morality and immorality, between the Spirit of God and the spirit of darkness. In the wake of all wars come ignorance and immorality. In fact, the history of the world proves that after great struggles of might, men are in darknkess, for war precipitates the greater evils in human society on one hand as well as the better spiritual attitude toward life on the other.”
  - “I believe firmly what has been suggested in this conference, that one reason for this war is the false philosophies that have been rampant in the hearts of students of the European countries and of the world. The great message that you and I must bear must be prefaced with the divine thought that God made man in his own image, in the image of God made he him. This is a divine truth. Its divinity stamps divinity upon us. We are divine.”
April 1916 General Conference
- Peace
  - “But the Latter-day Saints have done more than establish American institutions in the Far West. They have established not only economic institutions that are wonderful in history, but “Mormonism” calls every man, woman and child into the field of constructive social activity. I believe we have the key to the social reformation of the world, through the priesthood and the different organizations of the priesthood of God.”
  - “May Zion be built upon this continent, may we cleanse our hearts and do the great work and make the great contribution of bringing about the unfurling of the flag of peace, of helping to bring about the federation of the- world in a league of peace, that there may be no more war, that peace may come and that all people shall look up to Zion and know that God is God and that He has spoken to His people. May we so direct our lives that this message may be given to the world.”
  - “So here, in this State, we have every opportunity of establishing a peace society that will be effective. A part of Zion at least will be here, and Zion means the place where the pure in heart are living.”
April 1914 General Conference
- Philosophy
  - “Philosophy of man will never satisfy the longing that is natural to the human being, will never satisfiy that longing for God, and for a knowledge of man’s relationship to his Creator. I believe, my brethren and sisters, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most magnificent example—I mean the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we understand it, and as we know it to be true—is the most magnificent example of what modern sociologists in their philosophy declare to be high-minded and critical intellectual type of philosophy.”
  - “When men learn that their institutions—their economic, civic, political, social and ethical institutions—must be in accord with some divine belief in man’s power and his relationship to God, then men will have a truer religion, a better outlook on life, and men will begin to grow into their greater power of intellectual and ethical development.”
  - “I say this here because I do not wish the Prophet Joseph Smith misunderstood, though he had no formal schooling. That is why I believe he rose to be such a magnificent character before the world. His mind was never injured by some little or petty pedagogical principle that would have warped his being.”
  - “The Gospel of Jesus Christ stands for truth in its reality; it stands for truth in its ideality.”
October 1913 General Conference
- Civic Life in Utah
  - “I want to say here that in Utah was developed a democracy even greater than the democracy in New England, because in our town mettings, in our civic centers, not only were the men permitted to take part and to vote on the great questions of life, but the women were given that privilege as well, which is an announcement to the world that we absolutely believe in equality and the right of the woman to take her part in the great civic life of humanity. Our history, my brethren and sisters, is not a chronological history ; it is a history of great expressions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
  - “Equality will come when we abide by the laws of righteousness and truth.”
  - “I wish that in every home in Zion the name of the Savior would be used sacredly every day, and that if you and I were asked who it is that we hold up as greater than anyone else our reply would be Jesus the Christ, whom we love, whom we worship and whom we obey. The world needs Christ more than ever. If ever in the past it has needed Him, very well and good; but certainly Christ and Him crucified is needed today more than ever.”
April 1913 General Conference
- We Ought to Have Ideals
  - “If there is anything needed today in the world, it is a knowledge of Jesus, the Christ. I believe that after all the only salvation for the social, political, economic and religious conditions of the world today is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
  - “It is the fact that there is a difference between priestcraft and priesthood. Priestcraft is the hierarchy of a man-made government; it is a result of man’s force and energy. Priesthood is the expression of the power of Almighty God in the soul, the very being of men who bear that divine calling. Historically, socially, religiously, there is a difference between priestcraft and priesthood.”
  - “Truth has, it is quite true, but one enemy, and that is untruth. Untruth has two enemies, truth and itself.”
  - “God bless you in your work, and may we be united as a people, for in unity there is strength. Let us learn. Let us learn to look up. Let us learn that God made the stars and the sun and the moon for us. Life is too big, too noble, too true for us to stoop to low things. We have not time to talk about our neighbor. We have not time to speak unkind thoughts. We should be so active that every moment counts for the better life, and our dreams and our hopes and our ambitions should be lodged in the light of God, and our very activities should be making for His Kingdom. This applies to us all.”
October 1912 General Conference
- First Principles
  - “I only wish that we here in the center stake of Zion, may retain in our hearts the same honesty and sincerity of purpose, and truthloving character that seems to be so characteristic of you people who come from the remote parts of these states in the west.”
  - “We can’t get too much faith in our hearts. Faith, after all, is the moving force in the history of the world, and is today, and always will be.”
  - “People can only become great as they have great ideals to which they work.”
  - “Whatever we do, and think, there is always that truth within us that God is God, and that Jesus is the Christ, now and forever. We must, therefore, learn true charity, true love. We must learn to work and to pray, and not give up our simplicity of life. The other day I was asked what our institutions, human society, need more than anything else. My reply was that we need more of the faith, honesty, and sincerity of our fathers and mothers, more than we need anything else.”
  - “I hope the day may come when in every schoolroom throughout this land, at least whenever we come into that schoolroom, there shall be placed in gold letters first, “I believe in God the Eternal Father and in His Son Jesus Christ,” on the right the Ten Commandments, the greatest moral law of the human race; and on the left the Preamble of the greatest document ever given to the world, for the government of nations, the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States.”
October 1910 General Conference
- Living Up To The Law
  - “It is one trait of Mormonism, that has always been to me a leading ethical thought, that the more we live up to law in our daily lives, the more we live up to our higher selves, the freer we become, the more intelligent we are, and the better interpreters of life are we before the world. And I believe that the Mormon people, the Latter-day Saints, have already become the best interpreters of the meaning of life, of any people who have been on the face of the globe.”
  - “He is a God of love and though we have been taught that we are the people of God, we are only the people of God as we live God’s laws, and as we live our best selves. As we live well and in truth we become the people of love, people of honor, people of integrity and honesty, who, when we give our word as individuals, will abide by that word. When we arise in the morning we will dedicate our lives to God, because it is from communion with our Father that we derive the power that enables us to live that true life, that high life, that honest life for which every Latter-day Saint should contend, yea, every Christian of the world.”
  - “Though all might drift from the Church, the gospel of Christ remains true. But it is the individual members who compose it, who bring to it their best selves, their manhood and their womanhood, and their sacred honors, that give to it the refining influence that goes out to teach the world. And so the question, I think, for us to answer in our own hearts is, are we living this gospel as best we know how?”
  - “Let us remember that this is the gospel of the deed, the gospel of the act, the gospel of thought.”

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